The Configuration File

The configuration file, which must be Phoenix-compliant, contains information needed to configure the various system components. Phoenix uses the information in this file during the startup or the reconfigure stages.

The important entry is the fx-conversion-server.jar, which contains the MyFxCoversion block. All of the other blocks that MyFxConversion uses are found in the cornerstone.jar archive.

Step 5: Deploying the System

Finally, to deploy the system, copy the myfxconversion.sar file to the apps subdirectory. When Phoenix starts up, it will extract the archive into a subdirectory of the same name.

Conclusion

The Avalon development effort began in September 1999 and now represents a solid platform for developing server side service-oriented applications. The lower layers of Avalon, namely Framework and Excalibur, are finalized, very stable and have been used for developing core technologies such as Cocoon2 and James. The upper layer, in particular Phoenix, is still in alpha and will make a transition to beta in the near future, once the JMX issues are resolved. There is low to medium risk in adopting this technology for developing server-side components.